Lose Yourself is the best song ever made

[chopsuey567]

I'd probably give it to The Beatles yesterday or Hey Jude, but lose yourself has got to be up there.


Oh and chopsuey by system of a down.

[Elision]

These lyrics aren't impressive at all to me.

It's not a complex song in the slightest. Complex lyricism is almost exclusive to hiphop and its close cousins. What makes it such a beautiful/profound piece is that it was released when it was. That song was desperately needed during that era. These days of course we're flooded with them; but Lennon was the first person to bring these ideas out in such an out-there manner. The idea of a society unplagued by borders/money/religions. Pushing people to truly consider a resource-based system wherein which people live, no pun intended, for today.

Now compare this to Lose Yourself and tell me which song took longer to craft.

It depends on whether or not you're taking into consideration John's psychedelic experiences necessary towards creating the piece

[_Hawk_]

And then right after that, he goes back to the kick-ass flow/rhyming.

Except he doesn't.

The clock strikes midnight
1, 2, then half passed 3
This half-assed rhyme, with this half-assed piece of paper
I'm desperate at my desk
If I could just get the rest of this shit off my chest, Again

The only multi in all of this is half past 3/half-assed piece, which is still cheating anyway since he uses "half" twice. Desperate/just get is arguable, but that was probably just a coincidence that arose from the assonance of those two bars.

Stuck in this slump, Can't think of nothing
Fuck, I'm stumped, Oh Wait Here comes something, nope!
It's not good enough, scribble it out
New pad, crinkle it up, and throw the shit out
I'm fizzling out, thought I figured it out
Ball's in my court but I'm scared to dribble it out

No complex/kickass/crazy rhyming here. Uses "out" at the end of each "multi" so they're basically monosyllabic rhymes. "Stuck in this slump/fuck, I'm stumped" is misaligned.

Then the rest of the verse, the multis start to pick up...but it's probably too little, too late. Plus, a hell of a lot of multis are misaligned. It's very sloppy compared to 8MR/LY.

As impressive as a string of multi's are, a good rap song doesn't need to have them to be able to be appreciated. What moves RR on is the flow and the underpinning notion that he somehow has this clock to beat which is metaphorical of the fact that B-Rabbit is running out of time to make something of himself. The story and the hunger moves the song on at the pace it does, not technical rhyming patterns. Unless you pick this song apart, the lack of multis isn't going to grab your attention by any stretch of the imagination.

[Innovation]

Imagine is an excellent song.

[Almostlity]

Imagine is boring af like Miller said...why are we even comparing it to Lose Yourself?

That's like saying a movie isn't good just because it doesn't have enough action sequences.

[PAINKILLƎR]

Imagine is boring af like Miller said...why are we even comparing it to Lose Yourself?

gtfo

[_Hawk_]

Unless you pick this song apart, the lack of multis isn't going to grab your attention by any stretch of the imagination.

You basically just said "unless you use critical thinking, you're not going to notice the flaws of this song."

Well, duh.

No, read what I said again. It speaks for itself.

If I listen to Em verses, say from Evil Deeds, the rhyming is clearly lazy and all over the place. I can notice that without using any real amount of critical thinking. On RR the rhyming isn't obviously lazy, and the lack of multis is not a noticeable feature for, as I said, the pace of the track carries the bars.
I meant every word of what I said.

If you 'critically think' every song you listen to then by all means sit there with your lyric sheet and highlighter and enjoy your session of deconstructing. I personally like to listen to a song for the simplistic enjoyment of the track if I like it. Impressive rhyming patterns and internal rhymes are always a bonus.

Just my 2p.

[Hopsinshadie]

Till I Collapse, I'm Back and Marshall Mathers ==> Lose Yourself

[kiki]

Lose Yourself and Stan

[_Hawk_]

On RR the rhyming isn't obviously lazy, and the lack of multis is not a noticeable feature for, as I said, the pace of the track carries the bars.

Certain parts are very obvious. You don't need a lyric sheet/highlighter to be able to tell that Rabbit Run is average/lazy in parts. You just need an ear.

There's far too much cheating in the song where he re-uses words in rhyme schemes:

Ball of shit/...sick of staring at this wall and shit, sick of all this shit, can't call it shit

Until it filters up/I can feel it building up, blow this building up...filled it up.

Scribble it out/...I'm fizzling out, thought I figured it out/...scared to dribble it out.

Half past 3/half-assed piece

Finally see/blind to see

Feel my rush/feel my nuts

Hair sit up/yeah sit up

Jaws was coming/law was coming

Sometimes I don't always find a word to rhyme to express how I'm really feeling at that time, yeah sometimes sometimes sometimes

Misaligned multis:

stuck in a slump/fuck, I'm stumped

boiling point/oil in your joints

win this race/shit in your face

When it's the greatest rap lyricist ever writing stuff like that, it sticks out like a sore thumb. He was in a mindset where he cared more about the presentation of the lyrics (ie the boring beat-humping flow where he mirrors the building kick drums at the start like in When The Music Stops) rather than the lyrics themselves. Style over substance.

And I did enjoy Eminem's delivery on Rabbit Run, although his flow was pretty basic. I wouldn't turn the song off if it ever came on.

But this is you meticulously going through the song. Yes, you need an ear to hear that, but not everything that you highlighted above plays on my mind when I listen to the track. It certainly doesn't ruin it for me. The same re-using of rhymes is true with Stan:
That type of shit'll make me not want us to meet each other
I really think you and your girlfriend need each other

Indeed, where's the multis here?:

And all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call
I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall

The 'each other' rhyme is repeated in the former. That sounds lazy and unlike prime-Em. Indeed, whilst I'm talking about Stan, the amount of times he says 'shit' in that song when he could have said 'track' or 'tape' or 'mix' instead is lazy as well. Stan may be a chap who resorts to cursing when he can't pick the right word to use, but the verses do feel like they were written, as they were, very quickly.

Now for me Stan is one of Em's stand-out tracks, and I'd go so far as to say that it is one of the best written tracks of all time. It's poignant. But if you pick it apart you can deconstruct the lyrics and say to yourself, "this needs another multi; this needs another word". The truth is it doesn't. To the ordinary listener, those things are surplus to the track. They won't be noticed unless one chooses, as we are doing, to pick the song apart.

Clearly we will have to agree to disagree.

[Kill You]

Imagine is boring af like Miller said...why are we even comparing it to Lose Yourself?

That's like saying a movie isn't good just because it doesn't have enough action sequences.

But it is boring. Sorry. Some of us don't like music like that. Just because it's old doesn't automatically mean everyone has to like it.

Like The Beatles, I think they're boring AS FUCK. I cannot listen to their music. Doesn't mean it's not good but it puts me to sleep man. If you're not interested in the music then you're not interested, nothing will change that.

And for the record movies without action usually do end up to be boring. Lincoln for instance is like the most boring movie I've ever seen but everyone busted a nut over it when it first came out.

[Minimii]

overplayed sadly

[SajN]

On RR the rhyming isn't obviously lazy, and the lack of multis is not a noticeable feature for, as I said, the pace of the track carries the bars.

Certain parts are very obvious. You don't need a lyric sheet/highlighter to be able to tell that Rabbit Run is average/lazy in parts. You just need an ear.

There's far too much cheating in the song where he re-uses words in rhyme schemes:

Ball of shit/...sick of staring at this wall and shit, sick of all this shit, can't call it shit

Until it filters up/I can feel it building up, blow this building up...filled it up.

Scribble it out/...I'm fizzling out, thought I figured it out/...scared to dribble it out.

Half past 3/half-assed piece

Finally see/blind to see

Feel my rush/feel my nuts

Hair sit up/yeah sit up

Jaws was coming/law was coming

Sometimes I don't always find a word to rhyme to express how I'm really feeling at that time, yeah sometimes sometimes sometimes

Misaligned multis:

stuck in a slump/fuck, I'm stumped

boiling point/oil in your joints

win this race/shit in your face

When it's the greatest rap lyricist ever writing stuff like that, it sticks out like a sore thumb. He was in a mindset where he cared more about the presentation of the lyrics (ie the boring beat-humping flow where he mirrors the building kick drums at the start like in When The Music Stops) rather than the lyrics themselves. Style over substance.

And I did enjoy Eminem's delivery on Rabbit Run, although his flow was pretty basic. I wouldn't turn the song off if it ever came on.

Lose Yourself is also little lazy written a few places. I'll show you some examples when I get home, but I am sure you can see them yourself.

[RoleModel'Est96]

Well, there's no doubting it was the song of the Noughties.

Either that or Viva La Vida

[Evan C.]

On RR the rhyming isn't obviously lazy, and the lack of multis is not a noticeable feature for, as I said, the pace of the track carries the bars.

Certain parts are very obvious. You don't need a lyric sheet/highlighter to be able to tell that Rabbit Run is average/lazy in parts. You just need an ear.

There's far too much cheating in the song where he re-uses words in rhyme schemes:

Ball of shit/...sick of staring at this wall and shit, sick of all this shit, can't call it shit

Until it filters up/I can feel it building up, blow this building up...filled it up.

Scribble it out/...I'm fizzling out, thought I figured it out/...scared to dribble it out.

Half past 3/half-assed piece

Finally see/blind to see

Feel my rush/feel my nuts

Hair sit up/yeah sit up

Jaws was coming/law was coming

Sometimes I don't always find a word to rhyme to express how I'm really feeling at that time, yeah sometimes sometimes sometimes

Misaligned multis:

stuck in a slump/fuck, I'm stumped

boiling point/oil in your joints

win this race/shit in your face

When it's the greatest rap lyricist ever writing stuff like that, it sticks out like a sore thumb. He was in a mindset where he cared more about the presentation of the lyrics (ie the boring beat-humping flow where he mirrors the building kick drums at the start like in When The Music Stops) rather than the lyrics themselves. Style over substance.

And I did enjoy Eminem's delivery on Rabbit Run, although his flow was pretty basic. I wouldn't turn the song off if it ever came on.

But this is you meticulously going through the song. Yes, you need an ear to hear that, but not everything that you highlighted above plays on my mind when I listen to the track. It certainly doesn't ruin it for me. The same re-using of rhymes is true with Stan:
That type of shit'll make me not want us to meet each other
I really think you and your girlfriend need each other

Indeed, where's the multis here?:

And all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call
I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall

The 'each other' rhyme is repeated in the former. That sounds lazy and unlike prime-Em. Indeed, whilst I'm talking about Stan, the amount of times he says 'shit' in that song when he could have said 'track' or 'tape' or 'mix' instead is lazy as well. Stan may be a chap who resorts to cursing when he can't pick the right word to use, but the verses do feel like they were written, as they were, very quickly.

Now for me Stan is one of Em's stand-out tracks, and I'd go so far as to say that it is one of the best written tracks of all time. It's poignant. But if you pick it apart you can deconstruct the lyrics and say to yourself, "this needs another multi; this needs another word". The truth is it doesn't. To the ordinary listener, those things are surplus to the track. They won't be noticed unless one chooses, as we are doing, to pick the song apart.

Clearly we will have to agree to disagree.

Stan is not the best written Prime-Eminem song, that much is certain. However--similar to Kim--it's an incredibly specific concept song where he's playing a character within a story...and this situation can be limiting in terms of rhymes and writing. Eminem's delivery/voice greatly enhances the song itself and Rabbit Run isn't remotely close in that regard.